Why does iplayer need DRM?

RomanNose

RomanNose

RomanNose

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Joined
20 Aug 2010
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I have always been annoyed that we have DRM on iplayer. Yes you can download to mobile devices, but the quality is not the same as the desktop. Why can't the beeb just allow DRM free downloads in broadcast quality? For one, the pirate uploaders will always be able to record from TV and this is what they always have done. I don't see the point in this stupid DRM and it makes me feel like a criminal when I have to demux and reencode just so that I can get decent quality video on my tablet.
So GD please tell me why they have this unnecessary DRM?
 
Not to mention the DRM has been broken anyway (well, there are ways to download un-DRMed versions straight from iPlayer) :p.

I imagine it's for DVD sales, external production companies who don't want un-protected versions of their videos floating around and such.
 
Agreements with companies that make the programmes? There's a lot of non-bbc content on there and I doubt they'd let that out DRM free.

Yeah it sucks but until they realise that DRM only really punishes legitimate customers (insert-piracy-versus-bought-DVD.jpg)
 
RomanNose said:
Why can't they just allow download for content they have produced then?
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Because its too much effort to separate BBC produced content and make that DRM free plus if they only offered BBC produced content all you'd get is Eastenders. :D

Just strip the DRM off if it bothers you - it's not hard.
 
LordSplodge said:
Because its too much effort to separate BBC produced content and make that DRM free plus if they only offered BBC produced content all you'd get is Eastenders. :D

Just strip the DRM off if it bothers you - it's not hard.
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Any command line software that does the job? My encoding system is headless.
Bleh, get iplayer is decent.
 
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LordSplodge said:
I used to use some terminal script for OSX but I just stream everything now so don't have it installed.
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I remember that, it was some ruby script right? I know about that, but it was mobile quality. get-iplayer is neat, but I have a hacked foxsat and a htpc so it's kind of redundant. I only wanted to watch the estate as I completely missed the last two episodes. Not on any of my boxes :(.
 
RomanNose said:
Why can't they just allow download for content they have produced then?
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Because the BBC generally don't pay the people involved in their programmers for the eternal rights to their works.
Instead they pay a fee for their performance, then usually a much smaller fee for any repeat showings, and another fee for any "home video" versions.

If the BBC were to pay for the ability to give everyone what was effectively an easy to copy/store "home video" version they would have to pay much much more.

And is before you consider that even BBC stuff made completely in house will have elements of content that likely belong to others, and are being used under license - such as background music.

They know the DRM has been cracked, but at least at the moment they can point to it and say to the rights holders "we've got it protected as best we can" (which is the same for Blu- and DVD).
 
What an odd question. Drm on Iplayer is fine and needed. It's for timeshifting like a VCR, it's not to download and keep their entire catalogue.
 
Glaucus said:
What an odd question. Drm on Iplayer is fine and needed. It's for timeshifting like a VCR, it's not to download and keep their entire catalogue.
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Why?
Is it bad to be able to watch TV shows years after they have aired? What's the problem with it? PVRs have this functionality, so I don't know why you think Iplayer shouldn't.
Anyway it sucks that companies still insist their material comes with DRM. The only DRM that is good is STEAM, which basically only stops pirates being in legit servers.
 
RomanNose said:
Is it bad to be able to watch TV shows years after they have aired? What's the problem with it? PVRs have this functionality, so I don't know why you think Iplayer shouldn't.
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PVR's/VCR's have this functionality but legally your only allowed to watch the recording once before getting rid of it, this has always been the law however in the VHS days pretty much nobody actually knew it.

Iplayer is for catch up just like PVR's are and VCR's were
 
RomanNose said:
Why?
Is it bad to be able to watch TV shows years after they have aired? What's the problem with it? PVRs have this functionality, so I don't know why you think Iplayer shouldn't.
Anyway it sucks that companies still insist their material comes with DRM. The only DRM that is good is STEAM, which basically only stops pirates being in legit servers.
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Of cours it's bad, why would you buy. They don't even stream shows years after they only stay on Iplayer a few weeks. Pvrs don't really have that function. They have relatively small hard drives and you have no real option but to delete.
 
Because the BBC don't own the content, but licence most of it, and it isn't licensed for free and random distribution, but for distribution in a controlled fashion?
 
Skyfall said:
The actual question is: Why does iplayer have DRM but their broadcast TV service has none?
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IIRC freesat HD has a mild version that can be set as a broadcast flag (like PPV on sky used to have), and both cable and Sky don't allow you to make a bit perfect copy of the broadcast...

Basically it's because it's far to easy to copy a downloaded of the program without any DRM, and that official download is usually a fairly good quality.
Hence the DRM.
 
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